Chris Jericho Will Wrestle Kenny Omega At NJPW's Wrestle Kingdom 12

Early today, New Japan Pro Wrestling startlingly revealed Chris Jericho as the newest member of their roster. The Canadian made his first appearance via video message - calling out Kenny Omega in the process.

At today's Power Struggle, Omega had just successfully defended his IWGP United States Championship against Trent Beretta - only for Jericho to shockingly appear on the big screen and challenge him to a match at Wrestle Kingdom on January 4th.

Wrestle Kingdom is New Japan's equivalent of WrestleMania - traditionally their biggest show of the year, and the event which last year saw Omega lose to Kazuchika Okada in a match infamously given six stars by Dave Meltzer.

Jericho and Omega have been going back and forth on Twitter for a short while now, but it's fair to say that not many would have expected their verbal exchanges to lead to this. If the match does indeed go ahead, it will be Y2J's first outside of WWE since 1999.

Jericho wrestled numerous matches for New Japan back in 1997, as part of an excursion while under contract with WCW.

This could represent a major shift in New Japan's stature, as in recent years they haven't booked former WWE stars as big as Jericho. This is perhaps their biggest former WWE acquisition since Brock Lesnar in 2005.

Indeed, the manner and scale of the move seems the inverse of recent debuts made by former NJPW stars in WWE and NXT - especially Shinsuke Nakamura, who also first appeared via video message calling out an established star.

What this means for New Japan - and the wrestling landscape in general - remains to be seen, but Jericho's jump could well be the start of a new movement. There is often talk of discontent among WWE stars; could we see other big names follow suit?